lieve, That the Interest os Religion are concerned in this Dispute- Now a good Intention always deserves a proper Regard, even when it is engaged in a bad Cause. And as Religion is the Motive, it is to be hoped, that when they see on which Side the Motives of Religion really lie, they will conform thereto, and not persevere in an Error, because they , once mantained it. Therefore to cut this Matter short, and to put the Whole upon a fair Issue, I will suppose, That the Bible is the Religion of Protestants, and that we have no Right to alter Christianity from what it was Seventeen Hundred Years

ago I demand therefore the Chapter, the Text,

the Verse, which either say or imply, That a rich Foreigner shall not be allowed to purchase Lands, or to merchandise, without paying Alien Duty. Civil Policy, I grant (but falsely so called) may lay Restraints: But surely the benign Saviour of all Mankind hath no where enjoined, that any Person, because he happened to be born on one Side of a River, a Mountain, or Arm of the Sea, should not freely negotiate Business, or purchase a Piece of Land, on the other. Doth Religion interfere in this Matter? Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? And what says common Humanity,— that excellent Principle, confirmed and improved by our blessed Redeemer, of doing as we would be done unto? For in a Country, where Persons of other Religions had the Power, in what Light would a Prohibition to merchandise, or buy a Peice of Land, appear to us Christians? I ask therefore, by what Law or Maxim of Revelation, what Precept of our Lord, or his Apostles, are Foreigners of all Nations, Religions, and Conditions admitted to settle in Great Britain, and to carry on any legal Branch of Trade or Commerce, in a free and open Manner,— but not to import raw Materials for the Employment of British B z Manufacturers? Manufacturers? Nay, to lend 0ut Money upon Interest, to trade in the Stocks, and even to take Land Security, — but not to purchase Lands? This, Sir, is coming to the Point, and let us hear what they have to fay.—Perhaps, they will fay, we have gone too far-already; and therefore ought not to proceed farther. This they may say, but how will they prove it?—I a(k, how will they prove it, even in relation to naturalizing the Jews? For the Prayer of our Lord on the Cross for his Murderers; the Intercession of St Stephen for the same People; the Reasonings of St Peter in the Æs, Chap. hi. Ver. 17. arid" all the Arguments of St Paul in the 9th, 10th, and nth of the Romans, are just the Reverse of what they propose. And how can any Persons dare to call themselves Christians, and yet attempt to change the Nature of Christianity, now it is established, from what it was, when first propagated i Who hath required this at their Hands? And the Cause of what Church do they serve in so doing?

Besides, We will allow, for Argument's Sake, that we have gone, as they say, too far already in this Permission granted to Foreigners of all Religions to settle in England: Therefore what is now to be done, but to repent of our evil Deeds, — and drive them out? And after we have expelled the Foreigners, we must expel those of our own Countrymen, that do not conform to our Belief, because the religious Motives are the fame in the one Case as in the other ; — and for that Purpose Officers of Inquisition should be erected in every Parish; and the Proceedings of bloody Queen Mary revived again. In short, there is no Medium between Toleration and Persecution: And if a Foreigner is not to be tolerated on Account of his Religion, why should a Native? And why should we do the Work of the Lord deceitfully, — since it is so plainly our Duty to introduce the Inquisition of Spain and Portugal, and to

follow follow the Examples of those Catholic Countries iff the Punishment of Jews and Heretics?

But it is to be hoped, that the Protestants of this? Kingdom will never ib learn Christ, nor pervert the Gospel to such Antichristian Purposes. Indeed, even Protestants are sometimes too much misled by the Arts of designing Men, and by Misrepresentation of Facts: Yet as long as they retain the constituent Principles of their Religion, let us not despair, but that they will, sooner or later, discover the inconsistent Part they have been acting, and abhor the Method used to deceive them. They will, they must see, that as they are commanded to pray for the Conversion of the Jews, they are certainly obliged to use some benevolent Means towards promoting that good End, and not content themselves with offering unto God a little, cheap, unavailing Lip-Laboux, without advancing one Step towards attaining the Thing they pray for. Surely, this is not to be in earnest in our Prayers, nor the Way to obtain the Thing we pray for. Our excellent Church requires us, on that solemn Day, in which we commemorate a Saviour suffering on the Cross for the Sins of the whole World, to petition, That God would be pleased to fetch the Jews home to bis Flock: And yet the pretended Sons of this charitable Mother think they do God Service, and the Church of England Honour, by acting counter to this Petition, and by behaving towards that People as uncharitably as they dare, both by Words and Actions. This is the Method they take towards fetching the Jews home to Christ's Flock. But that eminent Prelate and Father of our Church, Bishop Kidder, gives those Zealots, if they would hear him, a very different Lesson, worthy of a Christian and Protestant Bishop: "I fear, saith he, "speaking of the Jews, there is not that done by "Christian Rulers and People, that ought to be done *' towards their Conversion. Christians do indeed

"receive ** receive the Jews into their Countries; they use "them to many Purposes relating to Trade and ** Traffic, to Intelligence and Correspondencies; '* But they have not (loo often it hath been so) been ** treated with that Humility and Tenderness, as becomes *< the Christian Doctrine. Instead of that, they have "sometimes been severely persecuted and afflicled, ** and very often flouted and scoffed at; contemned "as Men of no Wit, and not worthy of our Notice ** and Regard. We have wanted that Compassion, *' which we ought to have for their Souls, and not "treated them with due Tenderness and Regard: And ** this hath but hardened them in their Obstinacy, and "prejudiced them against our holy Religion"—KidderV Demonstrat. os the Messias, Chap. I. § 4. Thus far this great and good Man: He did not think we had dpne too much already; nay, he did not think we had done enough; nor was his Patience tired out with waiting for the Conversion of this unhappy People, who, though at present under a dreadful Delusion, are still the natural Branches, and, when the divine Providence shall think proper, will be graffed again, i. e. naturalized, into their own Olive Tree. In the mean Time, it ill becomes us to be impatient on Account of the Delay, or to omit the proper Means for their Conversion. For why should we be weary of Well-doing? And if God was to do so by us, and to cut short his long Sufferings and gracious Forbearances, what could we say, But that the Measure we dealt to others, was measured to us again?

As to the particular Methods, which God will take to fetch home his ancient People, they are not revealed in Scripture ; and therefore we have no Grounds to determine any Thing about them.* But this we

know know with Certainty, that it is our Duty to make our Light to shine before Men,—That we ought to do every Thing in our Power towards the Promotion of the Gospel,-—and, if we can avoid it, never to put a Stumbling Block and Rock of Offence in any Person's Way. This being the Case, what Method so proper for us to take, both for our own Sakes, and for others, as to increase in the Fruits of the Spirit, Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance? And wiH any Man say, That, to observe such a Conduct towards the Jews, is to fly in the Face of Providence, and to endeavour to reverse the Decrees of the Almighty? Surely a Person must be very far gone in the Infatuation of Party, and the fiery Madness of Enthusiasm, who advances any Arguments of this Nature.

In short, Sir, I should be glad to be shewn a Jingle Passage either out of the Old or New Testament, Commanding us to treat this People ill,—or, what comes to the same, Forbidding us to grant them the common Privileges of SubjebJs: — I say common Privileges, not of Sovereigns, not of the governing Part of the Society, but of Subjects, meer Subjects: For that is the Question now before us, and no other. But one would think from the Clamours, that have been

raised,